Thursday, October 24, 2013

Caught on camera: Yemeni teacher gives 200 students a thrashing

"This was filmed around two or three days before the Eid Al-Adha festival [a celebration that starts on October 14]. Generally, students are subjected to this type of punishment if they get to class late. These thrashings take place once or twice a week. Class starts at 8am here and on that particular day, lots of students ran late.

I’ve been on the receiving end of these canings before, and I can say that, physical pain aside, it’s really humiliating. The teacher who can be seen in the footage, Mr Mansour, is known to be especially violent and harsh. Students are more scared of him than of the principal. And the principal never intervenes to stop this teacher. This type of punishment really shouldn’t exist in schools. We’re nearly adults and they continue to treat us like children!

Not all of the teachers issue these punishments: some get us to buy paper and pens for our classmates as a punishment [basic stationery supplies are lacking in most Yemeni schools]. That’s much less unpleasant. Personally, I’d rather have to pay for something than be humiliated with thrashings to my backside in front of my classmates." -Ahmed, a 16-year-old student, witnessed this scene from a classroom window. >>>

Any physical violent punishment is inhuman towards vulnerable and noncombatant individuals, let alone to kids/teenagers. I believe this is one of the main reasons why violence is widespread in Yemen. Since childhood, we're taught that violence solves problems. Honestly, I have experienced this at school and I once wet my pants while a teacher was thrashing me. Not to mention how I have experienced awful violent punishment at home. It traumatizes the kids and damages their mental health.